Plassnik welcomes establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission

21.12.2005

Newly established UN Commission is a clear yes to peace in the world

Vienna, 21 December 2005 - Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik explicitly welcomed the adoption of the resolution on the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission. "This decision ensures international support for countries in their transition from war to peace," said the Foreign Minister.

"The adoption of the relevant resolutions by the General Assembly and the Security Council helped to fill a gap in the institutional system of the United Nations. Within the UN system we now have a body whose specific aid measures are to guide countries after armed conflicts to stable and sustainable peace," continued Plassnik.

The Foreign Minister expressed special thanks to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, who suggested the establishment of such a Commission in his Report on UN Reform this spring, and to the President of the UN General Assembly, Jan Eliasson. With this Commission, he succeeded in implementing an important objective of the reform package adopted at this year’s World Summit in New York in September.

Austria actively supported this reform project from the very beginning. In a letter to the UN Secretary-General Foreign Minister Plassnik and her female counterparts underlined the essential role of women in the process of creating peace and advocated the idea of taking women’s issues into account in the work of the Commission. The resolutions on the creation of a Peacebuilding Commission contain a specific reference to this proposal.